A North Carolina man is accused of forcing his way into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and fatally stabbing his 5-year-old son before leaving the scene and going to a Taco Bell.
Jehaaz-Akil Khaliq Echoles, 31, has been charged with first-degree murder, the Pineville Police Department announced Thursday.
Police said officers were called to Sabal Point Apartments in Pineville shortly after midnight Thursday following a report of an assault involving a deadly weapon.
Upon entering the residence, officers found the child suffering from multiple stab wounds.
Authorities said officers immediately began providing emergency medical aid before transporting the boy to a hospital in a patrol vehicle.
The child was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
According to an arrest affidavit cited by WGHP, Echoles’ ex-girlfriend, who is the boy’s mother, told investigators he broke into the apartment, went into their son’s bedroom and shut the door behind him.
She told authorities she heard a disturbance, went to the bedroom and opened the door, after which Echoles ran away, according to the affidavit.
She found her son bleeding and unresponsive, covered in stab wounds to his head, neck and arms, and she immediately called 911.
The woman and another child in the home were unharmed.
Echoles was later arrested at a nearby Taco Bell, according to police.
Police said this was a domestic incident and not a random act of violence.
The motive for the attack is unclear.
Echoles has a previous criminal history of assault.
This includes a conviction in North Carolina for assault on a woman in an October 2020 incident. He also has multiple other assault-related cases going through the court system.
He has been accused of two assaults on women this year. In one case, he allegedly beat a woman with a belt. In the other, he threw keys at a woman after he borrowed her car and refused to return it.
Echoles is being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail without bond. His next court date is scheduled for July 30.
